In recent years citizens, sub-national governments and NGOs have turned to litigation to hold governments and corporations accountable for their contributions to climate change. These lawsuits invoke a variety of legal theories and seek an array of remedies. They include efforts by cities to sue fossil fuel companies for damage from climate impacts, suits brought by children to force governments to adopt more aggressive climate policies, NGO campaigns to block or shut down fossil fuel infrastructure, and state, NGO, and fenceline community challenges to rollbacks of critical federal regulation.

This conference, co-hosted by the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, with support from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, followed a conference on the Global Pact for the Environment from 9:00am – 12:00pm in the same room. The Global Pact for the Environment aims to codify the right to a healthy environment in international law and unify international environmental governance.

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